Like it was yesterday I remember my “school retreat” at Driscoll Catholic High School. All the classmates were gathered together in front of the fireplace and given a chance to get something off their chest. Throw in a hug from the next participant and your sins will be forgiven. In a moment straight out of The Breakfast Club, a friend of mine (like me, one of the only three not to participate) gave a speech asking everyone to remember what had been said so it could translate to the rest of the school year. Despite a round of applause, not much had changed on Monday. Mean Girls thrusts us right into that backstabbing, mocking society that is the hallways, cafeteria and phonelines of high school and does so with a sharp wit that helps it rise above your standard teenage fare.

Just as this year’s The Girl Next Door used Risky Business as its template for teenage angst, Mean Girls certainly rises from the school of Heathers. The talented Lindsay Lohan plays Cady Heron (constantly mispronounced as “Catty”, get it?) For years she’s been home schooled with her globe-trotting parents (SNL’s Ana Gasteyer and Scrubs’ favorite janitor, Neil Flynn) and is now getting her first shot at a real school. She’s provided the breakdown of the class structure by gothy Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) and the “almost too gay to function”, Damian (Daniel Franzese).

Of note are “the plastics”, a trio of rich girls both feared and admired in the girl world. Karen (Amanda Seyfried) is nominee for dumbest female on the planet, Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) knows all the secrets ("that's why her hair is so big") but never catches herself on time before telling others and Regina George (Rachel McAdams) is the “queen bee” with all the fakery and bitchiness that comes with the title. After falling into this crowd one day at lunch, Cady is suckered into a plan by Janis to be used as an “inside woman”, revealing all the dirt behind-the-scenes in an effort to dethrone the queen.

Mean Girls hits a lot of right notes through its big laughs. Cady’s assertion how it’s weird to be trusted by adults all her life only to enter a world where the teachers treat her as just another face is an all-too telling indictment of the educational system not producing free-thinkers. It’s also true how Cady doesn’t seem to necessarily enjoy her newfound popularity, not because love-and-hate go together but simply because it’s just an element of life that she becomes used to. When she comes to the realization that the rules of the girl world have no bearing on what it takes to live in the real world, she spouts out a speech of lessons so wholly simplistic they should be added to the list of commandments.

That’s all just icing on what is a pretty tasty cake already. As written by Tina Fey (adapted from Rosalind Wiseman’s parental guide, “Queen Bees and Wannabes”), Mean Girls has all the sarcasm and drollness that has made her Weekend Update one of the highlights of another weak patch in the SNL timeline. Imagine a smart Adam Sandler comedy where the comic bits still manage some cartoonish lunacy while maintaining real enough to tell the truth.

I’ve been listening to colleagues go on-and-on about how Lindsay Lohan is the real deal. She was good in last year’s Freaky Friday remake and years ago in The Parent Trap, um, remake. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen didn’t do much for her street cred, but Mean Girls is going to triple it. Fitting that one of the themes of the film is finding your individuality because this is the film where Lohan will begin to separate herself from the Hilary Duffs and Mandy Moores of the world. She IS the real deal and she’s encircled herself within a great script and actors with enough room to make their mark as well. Of particular note are Tim Meadows who has never been funnier as the docile principal with a Joe Clark complex and Franzese who is on target with every line of dialogue.

There are obvious twists to the plot that are standard-issue in any “the unpopular becomes popular” tale, but Mean Girls takes us to a resolution that is not entirely obvious and we’re grateful for it. I don’t know if it’s entirely believable and I don’t believe it’ll change anything on Monday. But it was still nice to hear the final speeches and I applaud Mean Girls for succeeding where so many others have failed. It would be interesting to revisit these characters in ten years at their high school reunion after they’ve been separated from the rat maze, become individuals and forced to confront each other as just people. It may take a decade longer than the next Monday morning, but what a wonderful society it would be.